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Speaker 1: I'm Well, Lucas and this is black Tech, Green Money.

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Speaker 1: RAIN Ventures is an early stage investment firm that focuses

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Speaker 1: on women and minority led startups, investing at the seed

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Speaker 1: and Series a stage in promising technology and tech enable

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Speaker 1: startups with high potential founders. Moniquide let as the founder

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Speaker 1: and managing partner. Erica Diagno Miineon is founder and general partner.

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Speaker 1: Monique is a globally recognized entertainment pioneer. Prior to founding

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Speaker 1: Rain Venture Capital, she served as CEO the Mosey Brands

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Speaker 1: and Mosly Music Group, home to a multi platinum roster

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Speaker 1: of artists including iconic producer Timberland, One Republic, Nellie Fortado,

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Speaker 1: and others. She brings over two decades of unprecedented success

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Speaker 1: as a CEO working in entertainment, marketing, press and entrepreneurship.

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Speaker 1: Eric has been an active investor and advised to early

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Speaker 1: stage companies for over fifteen years. Before launching Rain, she

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Speaker 1: was founding partner of One Thousand Angels, managing director at

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Speaker 1: Dream Adventures, and executive director at both Star Angel Network

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Speaker 1: and Golden Seeds. Before she began a career in venture,

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Speaker 1: she practiced investment banking at City Group Credit Sweets in Cantor,

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Speaker 1: fitz jailed.

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Speaker 2: So beginning with.

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Speaker 1: You Heremonique, like, you know, when we're growing up, you know,

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Speaker 1: we have these ideas of what we're going to do

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Speaker 1: when we become big adults, you know, and I imagine

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Speaker 1: you did not imagine that you would be an investor,

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Speaker 1: you know, as a child, Like what what in your

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Speaker 1: career started to open up this the awareness of the

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Speaker 1: opportunity of investing, and what got you interested in it?

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think it was it was like a

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Speaker 3: lot of things, I think just my journey in general,

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Speaker 3: not coming from a finance background. But then, you know,

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Speaker 3: being an entrepreneur, you're so focused on what you love

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Speaker 3: doing that I don't know that the proper education ever

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Speaker 3: went into to feed me personally on what does this

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Speaker 3: look like? What does this look like investing? What does

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Speaker 3: this look like? You know, from a legacy perspective, and

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Speaker 3: not so much like just only understanding the work that

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Speaker 3: I did or the work that my family did. And

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Speaker 3: I think that I started getting curious and it just

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Speaker 3: so happened that when my curiosity was being piqued, I

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Speaker 3: met Erica. I was a part of an Executive MBA

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Speaker 3: program and they brought her in to teach alternative investing

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Speaker 3: and it kind of just to be honest, it was

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Speaker 3: frustrating to me to be the CEO and co founder

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Speaker 3: of a successful company but never really have too many

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Speaker 3: financial options. And also, we're doing all the work, but

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Speaker 3: what was what was our model based on and how

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Speaker 3: much ownership did we really have of you know, from

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Speaker 3: equity and equality perspective of the work.

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Speaker 4: That we were doing.

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Speaker 3: And so I just started asking a lot of these

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Speaker 3: questions and I couldn't get the answers from a lot

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Speaker 3: of people, and Erica really took the time to start

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Speaker 3: talking to me about things.

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Speaker 1: So, Erica, I wanted to pass this to you also

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Speaker 1: because you know, in reading your story, you know you

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Speaker 1: were incredibly academically intelligent. You know, you had that academic chops.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think you graduated from high school at sixteen,

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Speaker 1: so you wanted to go into the medical field for

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Speaker 1: a little while and find yourself in finance.

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Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, do you know that That's the first

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Speaker 3: time I ever like see, even almost thirteen years later,

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Speaker 3: I just learned something new about her.

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Speaker 4: I did not graduated at sixteen.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, really yes, yes, yeah, she's never talked about

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Speaker 5: that will.

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Speaker 1: So, yeah, like, how did you how did you start here?

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Speaker 1: Because I want to I want to talk about you

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Speaker 1: guys as you know, the couple story and how you

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Speaker 1: became partners, but I wanted to talk first about what

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Speaker 1: got you into this world. I know, investment banking came

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Speaker 1: after your medical journey or you know, foray into that world.

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Speaker 1: What got you here?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Thanks, Well, I appreciate that you've clearly listened to some

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Speaker 5: previous interviews, and you know, it's great to see you

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Speaker 5: at the last afro tegument. So, you know, I would

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Speaker 5: say that I've always been interest in entrepreneurship. You know,

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Speaker 5: I was the fifth grade president of the Young Entrepreneurs Society,

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Speaker 5: so was.

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Speaker 6: Clearly thinking about it from a really young age.

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Speaker 5: I think we sold frontship bracelets, which you know are

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Speaker 5: proving back into fashion. But my mom is a physician,

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Speaker 5: and so I was pre med and undergrad and you know,

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Speaker 5: very seriously considered going to medical school.

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Speaker 6: Although I loved sort.

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Speaker 5: Of studying the sciences, I really didn't love doing sort

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Speaker 5: of the labs, which are you know, where you have

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Speaker 5: to throw on the glasses and sit in the laboratory

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Speaker 5: for three hours in a row and ty trate chemicals,

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Speaker 5: and I actually also worked I did my undergrad at UCLA,

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Speaker 5: so I took the opportunity to work on the Cardiothoracic

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Speaker 5: transplant unit at the UCLA Medical Center to support myself

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Speaker 5: while I was in college. And it was there that

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Speaker 5: I started developing, you know a lot of relationships the

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Speaker 5: surgeons that worked there and talking about the day to

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Speaker 5: day life, and they were all like, oh, you know,

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Speaker 5: there there are more exciting things for you to do

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Speaker 5: out here than be stuck in this you know scenario

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Speaker 5: that we're in. So I started really considering looking at finance,

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Speaker 5: you know, largely based on their suggestion, ended up changing

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Speaker 5: my major to business economics, and you know, really loved it,

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Speaker 5: and you know, was fortunate enough to get a job

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Speaker 5: on Wall Street doing investment banking at Solomon S. McCartney

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Speaker 5: which is now City Group out of college. Really fell

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Speaker 5: in love with, you know, all the various aspects of finance,

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Speaker 5: starting off in corporate finance, but then spent a few

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Speaker 5: years in asset management, did my MBA in finance at

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Speaker 5: Columbia Business School, and then I was a fixed income

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Speaker 5: trader for a couple of years out of business school.

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Speaker 5: But it wasn't until I got into early State Trenchure

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Speaker 5: Capital that I really found my you know what I

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Speaker 5: call my forever home asset class because it's such a

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Speaker 5: wonderful combination of you know, sort of relationship building and

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Speaker 5: investing in and nurturing people and sort of the interesting,

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Speaker 5: uh you know, sort of security analysis side of that.

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Speaker 5: We work in what's called a gray market, so you know,

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Speaker 5: having a good understanding of securities that don't have a

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Speaker 5: lot of kind of publicly available information for pricing them.

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Speaker 5: And you know, when I met Monique, probably I guess

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Speaker 5: about twelve years ago, I thought, wow, you know, she

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Speaker 5: is so passionate about this and so knowledgeable around, you know,

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Speaker 5: sort of the strategy and operations of really growing a company,

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Speaker 5: and really was just bringing that incredible kind of energy

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Speaker 5: that I think you need to really nurture and support

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Speaker 5: founders when they're at that most difficult period, which is

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Speaker 5: you know, sort of taking something from zero to you know,

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Speaker 5: maybe the first few million dollars in revenue. So we

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Speaker 5: decided to link up together, and you know, I think

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Speaker 5: that it's really been you know, a match made in

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Speaker 5: heaven for us, and you know, we've been really fortunate

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Speaker 5: to work with some really talented and amazing portfolio companies

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Speaker 5: that have done the impossible of you know, as I

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Speaker 5: like to call it, spinning gold out.

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Speaker 3: Of straw, you know, and we'll just you know, just

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Speaker 3: like Erica, both of us coming from entrepreneurial backgrounds, I

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Speaker 3: think was really important to both of us and finding

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Speaker 3: like a complementary skill set as a partner. I have

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Speaker 3: a completely different background and spending you know, twenty five

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Speaker 3: plus years in entertainment, dealing with talent, dealing with creativity.

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Speaker 3: I identifying talent and creativity. I saw it as a

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Speaker 3: very similar lane transitioning to founders and write the founding

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Speaker 3: team there's a special talent there, there's a special factor.

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Speaker 3: They have something special that they want to build, but

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Speaker 3: they need kind of like that bumper system. So that's

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Speaker 3: the way Erica and I really really where we kind

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Speaker 3: of like just blended on what our idea of supporting

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Speaker 3: an early stage founding team looked like. And so we

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Speaker 3: both were in a grants on that we both had

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Speaker 3: different skill sets, which kind of just is like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: this is what venture needs right now?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I want you to talk more about that, you know,

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Speaker 1: because there's there's something to be said for you know,

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Speaker 1: coming together as a puzzle piece, like Okay, you fit.

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Speaker 2: Me here and you fit me there.

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Speaker 1: There's a difference in being able to work together though

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Speaker 1: you know, there's more to it than you have things

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Speaker 1: that I need. How did you guys know, or maybe

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Speaker 1: you didn't know in the beginning, you know if this

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Speaker 1: will work out like that we could actually be in

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Speaker 1: the office together, we could travel together and do deals together.

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Speaker 2: How did you know?

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Speaker 4: I know?

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Speaker 3: For me when I looked at Erica, like coming from

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Speaker 3: a family business and coming from entrepreneurship, and even when

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Speaker 3: I started my career still having being a business person

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Speaker 3: and still being surrounded by my family, these things were

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Speaker 3: really important to me, Like how I choose to spend

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Speaker 3: my time, who I choose to spend it with. It

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Speaker 3: really does matter to me, even in business. I actually

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Speaker 3: think people don't think enough about that. And so I

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Speaker 3: asked myself, is this someone that if I was upset

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Speaker 3: with or I didn't agree with, could I see myself

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Speaker 3: still wanting the relationship? And the answer was yes for me,

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Speaker 3: And that is the way I measured it is because

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Speaker 3: you're not always going to agree. You know, business is hard.

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Speaker 3: You're doing one of the riskiest concepts investing in founding

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Speaker 3: teams at their earliest stage, right, So everyone is overwhelmed

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Speaker 3: with how do we make sure and ensure the success

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Speaker 3: of something, and so you want to make sure that

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Speaker 3: you're in partnership with someone that for me anyways that

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Speaker 3: it felt like family.

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Speaker 2: I would love you to chime in on this here.

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Speaker 6: Yeah. Absolutely, so.

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Speaker 5: I think that we are really lucky because one of

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Speaker 5: the most important factors to being successful as a venture

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Speaker 5: capital investor.

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Speaker 4: Is that you have to do two things.

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Speaker 6: You have to be.

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Speaker 5: Contrarian and you have to be right. And really on

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Speaker 5: the contrarian portion, that's very difficult, right, because you know,

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Speaker 5: you need to be able to see value in things

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Speaker 5: that other people are potentially overlooking. And one of the

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Speaker 5: tools that has helped us do that successfully is the

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Speaker 5: fact that we come from very different professional backgrounds and

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Speaker 5: so we actually have very different outlooks on what's important

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Speaker 5: in an investment and how to kind of identify risk

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Speaker 5: and also identify potential for reward. So I felt, you know,

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Speaker 5: very lucky to meet Monique because you know, in my circles.

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Speaker 6: Given my background is you know, largely.

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Speaker 5: Financed and business school and all that, most of the

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Speaker 5: people that were kind of in my you know, work

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Speaker 5: to have a very similar perspective to things that I do.

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Speaker 5: So you know, if I were to come together with them,

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Speaker 5: you know, it would kind of be.

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Speaker 6: You know, just two lenses over each other.

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Speaker 5: Whereas with Monique and I, you know, we're able to

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Speaker 5: create between the two of us a really unique viewpoint

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Speaker 5: on not only how to select companies to go into

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Speaker 5: the portfolio, but also how to support founders in very

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Speaker 5: different ways. So I think, you know, that is a

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Speaker 5: big part of why, you know, we're both so committed

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Speaker 5: to working together. You know, one thing that I think

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Speaker 5: a lot of folks you know, don't understand is that,

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Speaker 5: you know, GP partnerships are kind of like more intense

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Speaker 5: than even marriages.

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Speaker 6: Just get into.

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Speaker 5: And you know you're going to be questioned a million

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Speaker 5: times more before you know. LPs make significant capital commitments

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Speaker 5: to you about the quality of your relationship and your

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Speaker 5: commitment to staying together than you would buy. You know,

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Speaker 5: a priest who's doing marriage counseling before you It's.

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Speaker 4: Pretty and I have to tell you that's that's a

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Speaker 4: true statement.

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Speaker 3: I think that is probably one of the number one

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Speaker 3: questions we get asked is about the partnership.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, how do you answer that? Because I mean, again,

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Speaker 1: I was thinking about a quote I heard from you,

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Speaker 1: Monique in a previous interview where you said, you know,

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Speaker 1: fundraising is not fun. A lot of people don't realize

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Speaker 1: investors have to fundraise just like founders have to fundrais.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's interesting will I was, I personally was

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Speaker 3: actually really surprised that. First of all, mostly you know

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Speaker 3: how deeply I'm in the founder community, you know, how

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Speaker 3: honest they all speak to me and transparent, and like

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Speaker 3: one of the biggest things was the offense of the

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Speaker 3: no and oh you know, they took me through this

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Speaker 3: process and it was still a know And one of

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Speaker 3: the things that we implement it at rain Ventures is

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Speaker 3: like this onboarding process where there's like a two hour

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Speaker 3: session that we do with the entire team. It's mandatory,

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Speaker 3: like all of that teammates and it's like what does

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Speaker 3: it mean to be a venture back company?

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Speaker 4: And a few of the.

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Speaker 3: Slides I really do deal with, like the fact that

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Speaker 3: we're we actually fundraise to then deploy capital to the

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Speaker 3: selected companies. Just like we're asking you all questions and

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Speaker 3: we're getting updates and we're talking to you about the business.

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Speaker 3: We actually have an accountability to our investors.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's the traditional like okay Karta, but it's it's

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Speaker 3: not very you know, unlikely for us to hear from

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Speaker 3: LPs who contact us directly and on the spot. They

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Speaker 3: want a deep dive and you know, it's our obligation

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Speaker 3: to do that for them. And so trying to get

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Speaker 3: this for me and rain Ventures, and what Eric and

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Speaker 3: I decided is that it is important not just to

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Speaker 3: do the deployment, but also to educate the founders and

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Speaker 3: the teams on what type of accountability, what type of

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Speaker 3: portfolio are you even sitting in? Who what other you know,

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Speaker 3: who are your colleagues in the rain venturesorfolio?

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Speaker 4: What do they look like? What does this concept look like?

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Speaker 3: And then here's the follow on capital that has come

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Speaker 3: can you all meet that standard? And these are tough

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Speaker 3: conversations sometimes.

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Speaker 1: So to not enjoy fundraising, which a lot of people

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Speaker 1: don't like fundraising, you still got to get good at it, though,

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Speaker 1: How do you get good at it?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 6: I mean I actually I don't mind fundraising.

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Speaker 4: I'll say, Erica loves fundraising.

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Speaker 1: I know you though, but yeah, for the person who

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Speaker 1: does you know, Erica.

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Speaker 3: Go ahead, so you know, for me, I'll just say

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Speaker 3: this and I'll let Erica talk. But for me, my

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Speaker 3: whole career was built on not selling. Even when I

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Speaker 3: was in the position of having to be accountable for revenue,

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Speaker 3: et cetera, I always felt it easier and it made

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Speaker 3: more sense to align yourself with like minded people. It

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Speaker 3: doesn't mean that questions don't come. It's a different type

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Speaker 3: of question that comes, and that's always been my perspective.

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Speaker 4: So but Erica, it's a challenge for her. She loves it.

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Speaker 4: My energy.

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Speaker 6: So I'll just first start by saying, raising money. You know, raising.

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Speaker 5: Institutional capital for a venture fund is very very hard.

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Speaker 5: In fact, estay, I had an in person sort of

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Speaker 5: meeting with a new potential founder and you know, I

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Speaker 5: was telling him a little bit about some of our LPs.

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Speaker 4: And he was like, oh my god, how did you

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Speaker 4: get this people.

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Speaker 6: I was like, I don't know it, did you know?

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Speaker 5: So the truth is it's very very difficult, and that's

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Speaker 5: probably why I actually enjoy it. It's one of those

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Speaker 5: things that is just really challenging, and there's no like

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Speaker 5: real playbook for you know, it just sort of you

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Speaker 5: just have to keep you know, sort of a brute

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Speaker 5: force approach and you know, keep working on it. But

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Speaker 5: you know the most important thing is that I have

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Speaker 5: learned and one of the things that I think made

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Speaker 5: me more excited, you know, as we raised our first

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Speaker 5: fund about understanding what we're at actually doing and actually

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Speaker 5: have this really fun book right here how to have

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Speaker 5: a buck even though I've already done one before, I

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Speaker 5: just like keep it right next to me. So one

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Speaker 5: of the most important things is to realize that it's

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Speaker 5: not like a lot of people go into it as

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Speaker 5: though it's kind of like a judgment of you and

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Speaker 5: your capability and you know, whether you're a good person

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Speaker 5: or not or successful, But really it's about creating a

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Speaker 5: financial product that people need.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 5: So if you're just raising from high net worth individuals,

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Speaker 5: ure is it like can you get them excited? Can

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Speaker 5: they feel like they're going to do cool things? You know,

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Speaker 5: that's one thing. But for us when you're raising institutionally backed,

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Speaker 5: is where does this fit within their portfolio?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 5: What's their you know, sort of portfolio construction. Right now,

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Speaker 5: what's their asset allocation model? You know, how are things changing,

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Speaker 5: you know, how are things expected to change in the

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Speaker 5: future in terms of you know, current venture valuations compared

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Speaker 5: to public equity valueations compared to fixed income and you

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Speaker 5: know where our interest rate's going, and how are we

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Speaker 5: going to help them solve problems around meeting their target

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Speaker 5: return for their portfolio through the financial product that we're

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Speaker 5: offering and our ability to generate returns and generate cash flow.

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Speaker 6: So I think once you kind of.

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Speaker 5: Understand it a little bit more from that perspective, it

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Speaker 5: does become a little bit more interesting because for you

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Speaker 5: it does, right, you know, this is about me personally too.

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Speaker 5: Can I sell a really high quality financial product that

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Speaker 5: has you know, expected returns of hopefully you know, thirty

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Speaker 5: percent and then you know, that makes it I think

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Speaker 5: a lot more interesting of a challenge is how do

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Speaker 5: you provide the data points and should you know, give

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Speaker 5: people confidence that you can achieve that, and you know,

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Speaker 5: within that to also show that, hey, we're also people

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Speaker 5: that are taking very seriously the resonse stability of using

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Speaker 5: this capital to invest in things that are going to

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Speaker 5: create a better world. And a better future for everybody

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Speaker 5: as long term investors.

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Speaker 2: For the people listening and not watching, can you tell

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Speaker 2: what book that was?

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Speaker 5: It is just called how to raise a Venture capital funds?

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Speaker 5: The author Winter What Winter Need. So if you're thinking

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Speaker 5: about one, maybe that would be your first The first

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Speaker 5: thing on your to do list is to read that

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Speaker 5: of money.

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Speaker 2: I want to go back to something.

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Speaker 1: You said, because so I have a social club that

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Speaker 1: I also run, and one of the things you said

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Speaker 1: about you know, not selling, like if this is for you,

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Speaker 1: is for you, Like I don't sell memberships. If you

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Speaker 1: want to be a member based on what we provide,

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Speaker 1: this is probably the place for you. If I have

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Speaker 1: to sell you a membership, you're probably not the kind

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Speaker 1: of person we want and you probably don't want to

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Speaker 1: be part of this. And specifically coming from creative and endeavors,

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Speaker 1: you probably are not in a position to sell. Either

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Speaker 1: you want it or you don't. From the consumer side,

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Speaker 1: but that's still for some firms, some VC firms which

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Speaker 1: we don't have to talk about them specifically, but in

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Speaker 1: general terms, they don't have to sell. They open up

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Speaker 1: a fund. That fund is closed, you know, because you

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Speaker 1: know they've been able to prove something or have some

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Speaker 1: sort of you know, attraction for whatever reasons. And the

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Speaker 1: reasons are. What I want to talk about is how

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Speaker 1: does a fund at your stage become one of those funds?

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Speaker 1: Like what does the trajectory look like so that you

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Speaker 1: and others you know who want to raise funds are like, look,

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Speaker 1: this is a fund. I'm gott to sell it. It's

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Speaker 1: open as closed over subscribers.

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Speaker 3: Here's the thing, Will, is that this like instant gratification,

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Speaker 3: this instant thing, this idea. I love how much access

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Speaker 3: we have the technology and information. But there's also the

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Speaker 3: downside of it. Right, there's like this narrative that's been

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Speaker 3: amplified that in sixty seconds of a video that literally

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Speaker 3: overnight you have success. And here's the harsh fact in entrepreneurship.

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Speaker 3: Most companies close down period end of story. I don't

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Speaker 3: care what vertical you're in. I don't you know, I

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Speaker 3: don't care what it is. The majority of companies shut down.

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Speaker 3: So when you actually start thinking about what this is

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Speaker 3: and what we're doing, it's super difficult. This is really

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Speaker 3: hard to have a fund to select companies. And we

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Speaker 3: and rain ventures, we do fewer investments right than the

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Speaker 3: traditional vcs. But at the end of the day, the

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Speaker 3: reality is that all of this is hard. This is

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Speaker 3: hard work. Most fun ones don't even do well. We're

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Speaker 3: really really blessed and fortunate that we are doing well

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Speaker 3: at rain Ventures, but the reality is that most people don't.

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Speaker 3: Most founders have to shut their business down. Most BC

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Speaker 3: firms shut down. I mean, if we even look at

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Speaker 3: how many funds were open during COVID post George Floyd

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Speaker 3: and how many of them are gone, the majority of

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Speaker 3: them are actually gone, and.

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Speaker 4: That is because this is really hard work.

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Speaker 3: And so I think that this idea that it's gonna

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Speaker 3: look pretty. And by the way, anyone who owns an

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Speaker 3: early stage venture fund and they're building it from the

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Speaker 3: ground up, like Erica and I, we're making sacrifices right now.

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Speaker 4: It's just very plain and simple.

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Speaker 3: We're sacrificing now for later and so that we can

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Speaker 3: give some type of viewpoint to founders that would not

403
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Speaker 3: necessarily have access to pitch to traditional BC firms.

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Speaker 4: Right, So none of this is easy.

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Speaker 3: I just that is the thing I can only say

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Speaker 3: is it's just we're choosing to not give up, and

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Speaker 3: this is what we chose to do.

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Speaker 4: Over the last twelve years.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, I also just want to really

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Speaker 5: dispel the myth that you know, there are firms out

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Speaker 5: there where it's like, oh, we opened our fund and boom,

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Speaker 5: it's fully subscribed, and so it actually takes like the

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Speaker 5: most successful firms, Like when I think about people where

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Speaker 5: I'm like, oh, wow, you know you actually were pretty

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Speaker 5: successful at raising capital, it generally takes the eighteen.

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Speaker 4: Months to get the fund.

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Speaker 5: So eighteen months is actually like okay, great, you did

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Speaker 5: it on a good time print.

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Speaker 6: So it takes a very long time.

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Speaker 5: Number two, LPs institutional peas generally want to know you

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Speaker 5: for a really long time before they even contemplate making

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Speaker 5: a commitment. And when I see a really long time,

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Speaker 5: no joke, many endowment fund you know, endowment managers who

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Speaker 5: we've had conversations with will say okay, great, once we've

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Speaker 5: known each other for five years, then I will think

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Speaker 5: about making a commitment to the fund. So you have

427
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Speaker 5: to have known them and they're kind of following you

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Speaker 5: for before they're even going to think about making their

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Speaker 5: first commitment. So any of the funds where it seems

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Speaker 5: like oh, you know, let's say it's I don't know

431
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Speaker 5: Andrew's and Horowitz or Sequoia, you know, re sell where

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Speaker 5: it seems like, okay, well they opened the fund, it

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Speaker 5: was fully subscribed. It's because they have existing relationships with

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Speaker 5: super massive endowments who need to deploy capital on a

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Speaker 5: regular schedule. But they have built those relationships with those

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Speaker 5: managers over the course of you know, probably twenty years,

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Speaker 5: I would say two decades. Actually that's that's the reality.

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Speaker 5: And those you know, asset managers, right, I'm talking about

439
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 5: the endowments and the institutional managers who are investing in

440
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 5: the fund. You know, they had to re up their

441
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,879
Speaker 5: commitments there because they don't want to take the time

442
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 5: to like get to know a whole new manager. So,

443
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 5: you know, I think I explained this a little bit

444
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 5: in the you know, in person interview that we were

445
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,240
Speaker 5: which is that, you know, it's really an exceptionally long

446
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 5: term investment. And you know, as I told you, I mean,

447
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 5: Monique and I started investing together in like twenty thirteen,

448
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 5: we started building a track record, you know, decided that

449
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 5: we were interested in potentially being partners in a venture

450
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 5: fund in twenty fifteen, really went to market in twenty nineteen,

451
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 5: closed our first fund in twenty twenty one and are

452
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,879
Speaker 5: just now raising a second fund because we have, you know,

453
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 5: sort of proven track record results. But you know that's

454
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:43,680
Speaker 5: taken over ten years, and we're still considered emerging managers.

455
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 2: Wow. You know before.

456
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 5: That both of us had decades long experience in our

457
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 5: respective industries.

458
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,240
Speaker 4: So none of this happens overnight.

459
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,439
Speaker 1: So I love that take, and I wonder, and this

460
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,879
Speaker 1: is a question for you. Erica Casishi brought this up on.

461
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,359
Speaker 1: Even the big ones still have to, you know, go

462
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 1: through these stages. There was an organization that was part

463
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:08,879
Speaker 1: of that. I learned where they're they were going through

464
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: a fundraising campaign and there's called a quiet period to

465
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 1: where they don't have to publicly announce they're going through

466
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,920
Speaker 1: a fundraising but they can announce at a certain stage.

467
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,640
Speaker 1: And let's say it's a five hundred million dollar campaign,

468
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,679
Speaker 1: they can announce after they've already raised two fifty of

469
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,960
Speaker 1: that five hundred. So by the time they announce, oh,

470
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: we're on a trajectory were we already got two fifty

471
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:29,880
Speaker 1: in the bank. And you think, as the reader, oh

472
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: my god, they're moving amazingly fast. And so what I

473
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: hear you saying and you can translate for me if

474
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,719
Speaker 1: I'm not doing this right is don't be fooled by

475
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 1: the show. Don't be fooled by the headline.

476
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure exactly like what you're

477
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:48,919
Speaker 5: referring to, but you know, certainly I say that on average,

478
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,680
Speaker 5: most venture funds take eighteen months or so toer raise,

479
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 5: unless you are you know, one of the pre existing,

480
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,359
Speaker 5: you know, top tier funds that's been around forever and

481
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 5: you already have LP relationships because you're not really raising money,

482
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,400
Speaker 5: you're just going back to the same people. Like, think

483
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,359
Speaker 5: about it this way, right, when we make when we

484
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 5: have LPs and they.

485
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 6: Invest in us, and then we give them back money.

486
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,120
Speaker 5: Right, So let's say they make a ten million dollar

487
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 5: commitment to our fund, you know, and then we return

488
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,679
Speaker 5: you know, fifteen million. It's not like they can go

489
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 5: out and spend the money, you know, they have to

490
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:26,639
Speaker 5: reinvest it.

491
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 4: So Okay, Now it's a few years later they're like.

492
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 5: Okay, great, take the fifteen million and keep joy what

493
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,879
Speaker 5: you're doing. So it kind of creates like a built

494
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 5: in system of recycling as especially if you're if you're

495
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 5: priding returns, right, because endowments need to grow. And so

496
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 5: for these very successful larger funds, as long as they've

497
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:51,360
Speaker 5: consistently you know, returned substantial capital to those LPs, those

498
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 5: LPs are going to continue to reinvest it and make

499
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 5: it very easy for them to raise subsequent funds.

500
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 1: What's different We'll start with you, Monique. What's different about

501
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: raising money now for founders than it was two years ago?

502
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 2: Five years ago?

503
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:11,679
Speaker 3: Well, I mean five years ago. Like Erica said, you know,

504
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen, we were out talking to institutions and

505
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 3: I think the I think the majority of the feedback

506
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 3: was just not really positive. Just to be honest and transparent,

507
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 3: I think I even heard a couple of times we

508
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 3: should start a charity, like why don't we just do

509
00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 3: this as a charity, you know. And so then post

510
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,639
Speaker 3: COVID and post all of the George Floyd and just

511
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 3: all of the you know, equity conversations and the commitment

512
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:45,239
Speaker 3: right to the to the capital of underfunded or you know,

513
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,000
Speaker 3: whichever however they wanted to coin it or term it.

514
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,480
Speaker 3: You know, for me, I understand that business is cyclical,

515
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 3: concerns are cyclical, and so you know, that didn't last

516
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 3: very long, and so for me, I just feel like

517
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,080
Speaker 3: we're pre COVID, right.

518
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 2: Wow, would you add anything at that area.

519
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 5: Yeah, So, you know, the funding environment is much different

520
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 5: for founders than it was a few years ago. For one,

521
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 5: you know, the M and A environment for the last

522
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 5: two years has been close to zero. So the issue

523
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,919
Speaker 5: is there's not a lot of money coming out of

524
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,439
Speaker 5: venture capital firms in the form of distributions, right, that

525
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,800
Speaker 5: would then be reinvested, as I was saying, you know,

526
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 5: sort of in the last segment, and that's you know,

527
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 5: putting a little bit more constraint on new capital new

528
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 5: capital available to new portfolio companies. Right. So what we're

529
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 5: still seeing is kind of this crunch, which is that

530
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 5: you know, for companies where you thought, okay, you know,

531
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 5: maybe you're going to invest through the Series A and

532
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 5: then there's going to be you know, a Series B

533
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,960
Speaker 5: capital that'll come and you know, support the company down

534
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 5: the road, you're seeing that, you know, there's less of that, right.

535
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 5: More people are saving their drive path for their existing

536
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 5: portfolio companies to make sure that they can get them

537
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 5: through what's a bit of a difficult time. We're also

538
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 5: just seeing you know, valuations as a whole coming down substantially.

539
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 6: I'd say that.

540
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 5: What we call like revenue multiples, and that's how you know,

541
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 5: we value companies that are actually generating revenue on the

542
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 5: sort of software side are down from you know, most

543
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,880
Speaker 5: companies five years you know, four, five years ago, especially

544
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 5: during the pandemic, would have been valued at twenty plus

545
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 5: times revenue. Now things are being valued at maybe like

546
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 5: ten times revenue if you're lucky. We're seeing in certain

547
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 5: sectors as low as you know, two to three times revenue,

548
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 5: and people are much more focused on, you know, as

549
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 5: far as more mature companies on are you generating positive EPADA, right,

550
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 5: So people want to see companies generating positive free cash

551
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 5: flow that don't have high burn rates. Nobody's paying up

552
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 5: for fast growth, you know, while you're burning a lot

553
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 5: of cash anymore. And you know that just really changes, uh,

554
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 5: the valuation scenario all the way down to you know,

555
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 5: the pre seed round because you know, generally people are

556
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 5: hoping that the value of the company is kind of

557
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 5: going to like double between rounds. So you know, if

558
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 5: valuations are kind of half as much now at exit,

559
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 5: they're going to be pretty much half as much. All

560
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 5: the way down to the pre seed and we're seeing

561
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,959
Speaker 5: you know, sort of pre seed and seed valuations happening

562
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 5: more in the you know, five to ten million dollar

563
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 5: post money range, whereas you know, during the peak, it

564
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 5: was more like ten to twenty million dollar post money.

565
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 5: And I think founders, you know, are a little bit

566
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 5: surprised by that, and you know, it's been hard for

567
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 5: people to digest that they're just not going to get

568
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 5: the valuations they used to.

569
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 3: And by the way, you know, in my personal opinion,

570
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,200
Speaker 3: the valuation should have never been what they were, right, Like,

571
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of a lot of times we

572
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 3: do here founders in conversation complain about investors, you know, oh,

573
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 3: I want it like one hundred million dollar valuation and

574
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 3: they only gave me a sixty million or a fifty million.

575
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 3: And I think it's you know, one of the educational

576
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,120
Speaker 3: pieces for founders is that just because someone gives you

577
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 3: a large number, can you get to that number? Because

578
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 3: if you can't, you're going to have a down round,

579
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 3: And you know, that is not a healthy thing for

580
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 3: the founder or for the investors. And so I think

581
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 3: like having this understanding between founder and investor of kind

582
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 3: of what does the valuation even mean? You know, I

583
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 3: think that that is something that has to be have

584
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 3: a little more time spent on with the team.

585
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

586
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 1: I'm glad you bring that up because you know, there

587
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 1: was a quote I found from you Erica where you said,

588
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,720
Speaker 1: you know, your team has to be amazing. We do

589
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: not invest in founders who are one person shows no

590
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,239
Speaker 1: one will get anything done by themselves. The team is

591
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: just as important as the idea and the business model.

592
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,719
Speaker 1: And going back to something you talked about earlier in

593
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: this conversation, you know, you bring these founding teams in

594
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 1: for to our session and you talk about the dynamics

595
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,600
Speaker 1: of the team and et cetera. What are you looking

596
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 1: for in the co founder dynamic? To me, that's the

597
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:18,920
Speaker 1: money because it was the Money's quote.

598
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:25,520
Speaker 3: Oh oh okay, yeah, no, no, oh no, And it

599
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 3: is in fact in our diligence process. Founder and founding

600
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 3: team fit is one of our heavy focuses, right. I

601
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 3: think that especially for women, especially for women who have

602
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 3: experienced anything in corporate America before actually like coming and

603
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,239
Speaker 3: building their own thing. I think that a lot of

604
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 3: times we have been taught that we have to know everything.

605
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 3: I know, for myself, I was pretty much the only

606
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 3: female and definitely the only person of color in most

607
00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 3: of the meetings during my career. And this idea of

608
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,719
Speaker 3: I have to know everything, I have to be perfect,

609
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,760
Speaker 3: I have to do everything. That notion I'm trying to

610
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 3: help founding teams undo. And so when we're talking to

611
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 3: founders and we're looking we're not asking normal questions. In fact,

612
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 3: a lot of times we get the founding team saying, oh,

613
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 3: we've never been asked that.

614
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 4: You know, we don't.

615
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 3: Want the pretty stuff. What are the dynamics? What happens

616
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 3: when there is a disagreement? How is your problem solving

617
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 3: skills as co founders? You know, do you all equally

618
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 3: respect each other? That's really important and so you know,

619
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 3: not just the skill set and the talent side, but

620
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 3: also personally, how do you all view what it means

621
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 3: to be founders together and part of a founding team?

622
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 3: I mean, they have to build this, you know, in

623
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 3: the days when it doesn't feel good, How are you

624
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 3: all looking at each other?

625
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 4: Do you shut down?

626
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 3: Okay, if that is your personality profile, what do we

627
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 3: how do we do to prevent shut down? You know,

628
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 3: there's just a lot of things I think to act

629
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 3: like these things don't exist. I think it's just not healthy.

630
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 3: These things do exist. I mean in family. Think about it.

631
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 3: In family, you have dynamics of disagreeance. Of course you're

632
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 3: going to have that in a new company, a young

633
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 3: company that's stressed out every day. So it's not we

634
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 3: don't want them to avoid it. We want them to

635
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 3: understand how will you conflict resolve?

636
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,319
Speaker 2: Finally, I want to pose this to both of you guys,

637
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:26,399
Speaker 2: and we'll start with you, Erica.

638
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 1: There was something I saw you had said before when

639
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: somebod you were asked about your legacy, Erica, and you said,

640
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 1: all I care about is helping female founders and founders

641
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: of color build billion dollar companies that are creating great

642
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:43,400
Speaker 1: technology products and solutions in the market. As far as

643
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,799
Speaker 1: I'm concerned, I think that's what my legacy is going

644
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:46,080
Speaker 1: to be.

645
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:47,840
Speaker 2: That was your quote there.

646
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 1: And when you think about the dynamics that are currently

647
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,400
Speaker 1: at play in this market where it's tough to you know,

648
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 1: Moniqu's point like it's kind of like pre COVID again,

649
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 1: when you think about how hard it is to do

650
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 1: this work. You know there's some wins obviously, but what

651
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 1: do you think about when you think about this is

652
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 1: what I'm going to be doing for the next ten,

653
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:10,840
Speaker 1: twenty thirty years.

654
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, so don't I don't actually think it's

655
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 5: hard right now, you know, I'm actually happy. As I

656
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 5: was talking about this last night, there were so many people,

657
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,920
Speaker 5: you know, who just got overly excited about this industry.

658
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,280
Speaker 5: You know, people who didn't really like at all even

659
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 5: understand how it works, who just kind of thought anybody can.

660
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,319
Speaker 6: Be a VC and let me just jump in here.

661
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:36,839
Speaker 5: And just because there was a lot of like momentum,

662
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,319
Speaker 5: so it kind of made it seem like, you know,

663
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 5: just like when the stock market's always going up or

664
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,359
Speaker 5: crypto's always going up.

665
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 6: You know, these people seem like, oh, I'm.

666
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 5: A genius, right, But it's like, well, you know, it's

667
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,560
Speaker 5: just because we're in this sort of interesting place in

668
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 5: the market. So to be honest, you know, just sort

669
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 5: of following up on what Monique said, this kind.

670
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,800
Speaker 6: Of market correction is actually really good for the market.

671
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:00,759
Speaker 5: You know, it's not good for or things to be

672
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 5: in sort of very overheated and you know, sort of

673
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:09,399
Speaker 5: irresponsible deployment of capital type of market where you're just

674
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 5: like throwing money at companies and they're just you know,

675
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,239
Speaker 5: spending it on all sorts of nonsense and not.

676
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 6: Really creating value. And then the worst is that they're like.

677
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:22,320
Speaker 5: Ponning these things off on you know, the public markets,

678
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,919
Speaker 5: right or you know, larger companies that you know have

679
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 5: more sort of diverse investor bases of you know, people's

680
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 5: pension funds.

681
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,319
Speaker 6: And you know all of that.

682
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:35,320
Speaker 5: Like, the people who end up losing in that scenario

683
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 5: are sort of the average hardworking people who you know,

684
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,919
Speaker 5: are trying to invest their retirement savings while a lot

685
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:48,000
Speaker 5: of wealth transfer goes to you know, mainly private equity folks.

686
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 5: You know, in some dcs, we're able to you know,

687
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 5: convince them that just because the company is you know,

688
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 5: growing fifty percent year over year, even though it's you know,

689
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,320
Speaker 5: losing a billion dollars a year, it's some great asset

690
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,799
Speaker 5: to purchase. So, you know, I mean from just sort

691
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 5: of like a fundamental overall viewpoint of the economy, like

692
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:09,240
Speaker 5: I think we're in a better place.

693
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 6: You know.

694
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 5: Monique and I have always had an incredibly disciplined approach

695
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,799
Speaker 5: in our investing, probably because I am a New.

696
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:19,920
Speaker 6: Yorker actually I originally grew up in California.

697
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,360
Speaker 5: But you know, I spent my whole career in New

698
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 5: York doing investment banking, like actually doing discounted cash flow analysis,

699
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 5: you know, sort of understanding very much how to value

700
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 5: a variety of different asset classes. And so we've always

701
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:38,399
Speaker 5: been really focused on fundamentals.

702
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 6: You know, and for that reason, we never.

703
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 5: Got caught up in kind of like the hype and

704
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 5: the overpaying and the investing in companies that needed to

705
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,320
Speaker 5: burn through one hundred million dollars to get to profitability.

706
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:53,440
Speaker 5: So you know, we've actually been rewarded for that really

707
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 5: diligent approach. But you know, it's based on many decades

708
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,279
Speaker 5: of experience in the market, understanding market cycles and understanding

709
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,880
Speaker 5: like where true value is created, you know, And for

710
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 5: that reason, you know, we're our fund one is you know,

711
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 5: performing in you know, the top five percent of funds

712
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 5: of our vintage. But it's because you know, the market

713
00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:23,840
Speaker 5: is correcting to a more sensible approach that we've consistently kept,

714
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:28,880
Speaker 5: and we've you know, buy and large, you know, focused

715
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 5: on building healthy companies that are healthy not only for

716
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 5: the investors but also for the founders and the employees. Right,

717
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 5: We're not looking to you know, greater fool theory our

718
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,400
Speaker 5: way to returns on you know, a crappy business. But

719
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:49,400
Speaker 5: what we are hoping is to build great product, to

720
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 5: have founders that are going to see you know, substantial

721
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 5: personal and financial reward from what they've done, and to

722
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,120
Speaker 5: build you know, great jobs for the amazing people in

723
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 5: our community.

724
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 2: It's fantastic Monique talk about.

725
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 3: Legacy, legacy when I look at when I think about

726
00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 3: my like, just who I am as a person, just

727
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:13,799
Speaker 3: as a human being. I feel like, you know, even

728
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,880
Speaker 3: in high school for this national business program, you know,

729
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:23,040
Speaker 3: I was nominated and served as the officer of civic Affairs,

730
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 3: and you know, and so when I think of who

731
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 3: I am, I'm just of service. That's always been my mindset.

732
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 3: I've always wanted to get somewhere so I can gather information,

733
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,200
Speaker 3: share it, or help someone else get there.

734
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 4: That is just who I am.

735
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,719
Speaker 3: I'm not going to change that about myself and for

736
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 3: me personally, I felt like that the heart, right, the

737
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,480
Speaker 3: non paperwork side, is what was missing from venture.

738
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 4: Being able to have the ability to see people, to

739
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:55,280
Speaker 4: see what we are.

740
00:39:55,600 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 3: And know that one small thing can help change the

741
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 3: trajectory of their business, of their mindset of an entire

742
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:09,640
Speaker 3: economy in a community, so like impacting consciously, that's always

743
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 3: been important to me. Meeting with some type of ability

744
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 3: to empathetically see someone and create a solution out of

745
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:19,920
Speaker 3: that is who I am.

746
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 4: High vision, big vision.

747
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 3: I'm very grateful that my skill set has always had

748
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 3: me a part of something before anyone else was. That's

749
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:30,320
Speaker 3: something I take a lot of pride in. It's something

750
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:33,240
Speaker 3: I try to teach to our founding community. It's something

751
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 3: Erica and I tried to like diligently focus on the

752
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,719
Speaker 3: future that we're building right how we want to see

753
00:40:39,719 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 3: the future. We have an inclusive portfolio because that's how

754
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 3: venture should have always been done.

755
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:45,520
Speaker 4: Inclusively.

756
00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:48,560
Speaker 3: Being able to see the world for exactly what it

757
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 3: should be is who I'm always going to be and

758
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,719
Speaker 3: always fight for that to create that world that we

759
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:59,239
Speaker 3: want because we're all creators at the end of the day.

760
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:03,399
Speaker 2: I agree, he Lonig, It's just so much fun. Thank

761
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:04,840
Speaker 2: you guys so much spending time with me.

762
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,880
Speaker 3: We appreciate you, will thank you for all your diligence.

763
00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:10,480
Speaker 3: You pulled out quotes that man I haven't reached that

764
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:12,720
Speaker 3: reminded of a minute.

765
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: It's a pleasure it's a pleasure doing this work, and

766
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 1: it's a pleasure to spend time.

767
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:18,000
Speaker 2: With people like you. Guys.

768
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,400
Speaker 4: No, thank you. We're excited about afro tech this.

769
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:24,880
Speaker 5: Yeeah, I see you there, I see okay than good guys.

770
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,800
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity afro

771
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,120
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Networking Night, Hiartmedia. It's

772
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 1: produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with the

773
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:38,160
Speaker 1: additional production support by Kate McDonald, Sayah Ergan and Jada McGee.

774
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:40,879
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis in Love Beach, Learn

775
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 1: More about My Guess and other technis is an innovator's

776
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:46,240
Speaker 1: at afrotech dot com. The video version of this episode

777
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,440
Speaker 1: will drop to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, So

778
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 1: tap in, enjoy your Black Tech Green Money, share us

779
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,120
Speaker 1: to somebody go get your money.

780
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:55,319
Speaker 2: Peace and love,